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Nearby Theaters

Caused a stir back in 1972 when it was one of the first first-run theaters in the US to show “Deep Throat”.

Sept. 28, 1972 – “Deep Throat” opens at the Prince Theater, a first run theater in Princeton, NJ. Mercer County prosecutor Bruce Schragger goes on record saying he does not contemplate any legal action against the theater. He’s a “firm believer” in freedom of speech and says that his office has more serious problems to handle. From “Inside Deep Throat” website.

The theater was later purchased by Budco, which made it a triplex. Budco was acquired by AMC. Still open as of 8/9/87 as the AMC Prince 3.

On 11/9/67, received smoke damage from a major fire at the nearby sprawling Princeton Bowl and Indoor Ice Skating Rink on Route 1. The bowling alley, ice rink and cocktail lounge were all destroyed in the blaze.

I’m watching the documentary now and in the special features section it shows the theater in black and white in a newspaper and in the present day. It’s now a Pep Boys. The original prosecutor tours the store and points to where the screen once stood.

For a period in the early 1980s, this cinema would show X-Rated Adult Films on one of its screens, while the other two auditoriums were still used for first-run mainstream pictures, which I thought was very odd.

A Pep Boys Auto Store sits on the site of the Prince 3 today. This was an undistinguished building on Route 1 outside of the Princeton town limits. I believe that the theater building was expanded on its “western” side in the 1970s while the original auditorium was twinned.

It was a Budco theater and it sometimes ran X-rated films as pointed out above. The last film I saw here was Die Hard.